Islamic Art

Matters of faith continue to divide people in dreadful ways, but there has always been at least one thing that religions have in common - the urge to express belief through art. That's a point driven home in a sumptuous 90-minute documentary by Baltimore filmmaker Robert Gardner airing this week on PBS. "Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World," narrated by Susan Sarandon, provides a welcome look into a cultural legacy little known and little...

Matters of faith continue to divide people in dreadful ways, but there has always been at least one thing that religions have in common - the urge to express belief through art. That's a point driven home in a sumptuous 90-minute documentary by Baltimore filmmaker Robert Gardner airing this week on PBS. "Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World," narrated by Susan Sarandon, provides a welcome look into a cultural legacy little known and little...

"Islamic Art and Patronage," an exhibit of 107 Islamic art objects from the Kuwait National Museum, will open as scheduled on Dec. 9 at the Walters Art Gallery, museum director Robert P. Bergman said yesterday.Mr. Bergman has had assurances from representatives (now in exile) of both the Kuwait National Museum and the Al-Sabah family, which owns the collection from which the pieces were selected, that the works would travel to the United States from Leningrad next month.And Joan Michaelson, administrator for the Trust for Museum Exhibitions in Washington, which is organizing the American tour, said the trust has been told by officials of the U.S. Treasury and State departments that the objects will be permitted to enter and leave the country without being seized by the government.

In a quiet, windowless room deep inside the Walters Art Museum, a digitization specialist places a 900-year-old Quran into the cradle of the Stokes Imaging System. She turns a page, lowers a wedge to hold the book in place, and snaps a picture. She raises the wedge, turns the page, lowers the wedge, and repeats. And repeats. And repeats. It's painstaking work, photographing one of the most important collections of Islamic manuscripts in North America, and slow. But scholars say the two-year project has put the Baltimore museum at the vanguard of a movement that is transforming the study of ancient texts.

The threat of terrorism inspired by Islamic fundamentalism has focused Americans' minds as never before on the politics and philosophy underlying the youngest of the world's three great religions. Yet for centuries Islamic civilization was one of the great stabilizing forces of the world, and its culture produced a flowering of magnificent and enduring artworks. Now that achievement can be seen in Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Victoria and Albert Museum, a stunning exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

A new museum of Islamic art and culture will open in December in downtown Baltimore as part of an effort by Maryland Muslims to promote greater understanding of their religion in the aftermath of attacks such as this month's bombing of the London subway. Plans for the museum, to be called the American Museum of Islamic Arts, will be announced during a launch today of a new Islamic community center inside a former bank building at 240 N. Howard St. Mayor Martin O'Malley is expected to be on hand for the 1:45 p.m. ceremony.

Trips Take a jaunt to Stevensville and see how a guitar comes to life at the Paul Reed Smith Guitars factory. page 24 Music The band Sonia Dada -- named after a childhood friend of songwriter Dan Pritzker's wife -- delivers its sixth album; it's full of mostly inspired performances. page 21 Stage The Maryland Conservatory of Music offers a celebration of Count Basie's 100th birthday in an event Saturday. page 12 PICK OF THE WEEK What: A community open house for the new Harry and Jeanette Weinberg YMCA at Stadium Place, with activities including rock climbing, volleyball, relay activities, ballet, face painting, a moon bounce and more.

Washington At a press conference yesterday to announce the U.S. tour of a major exhibit of Islamic art from Kuwait, the co-owner of the collection was overcome with emotion when speaking of the fate of family and friends following the Iraqi invasion."

SHEIKA HUSSAH Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah settled into the quiet elegance of a women's club on Mount Vernon Place yesterday, sipped V-8 juice and recounted the casualties of Iraq's invasion of her country, Kuwait. She told of a friend killed by Iraqi soldiers for harboring Americans. She talked of her sister and brother-in-law, who are running the resistance movement.Director of the Museum of Islamic Art at the Kuwait National Museum, Sheika Hussah has lived in Europe since the invasion. She was in Baltimore to pave the way for another Kuwaiti exile: an exhibition of 114 Islamic objects from her family's collection, which begins its American tour at The Walters Art Gallery on Dec. 9.Amassed in less than 10 years, the 7,000-object collection is considered to be one of the finest in the world.

Galerie Francoise presents its annual summer show of artists that it represents. The show presents 54 pieces by more than 20 artists, most of whom live and work in Baltimore. Featured is an artist new to the gallery, Allan Baillie, whose botanical photographs have been shown in New York in recent years. Baillie's toned gelatin silver prints of sunflowers, calla lilies, leaves and ferns recall the classic images of Imogen Cunningham and Edward Weston with a contemporary twist. Baillie, a graduate of the Maryland Institute, College of Art, is a Baltimore native currently living in New York City.

A new museum of Islamic art and culture will open in December in downtown Baltimore as part of an effort by Maryland Muslims to promote greater understanding of their religion in the aftermath of attacks such as this month's bombing of the London subway. Plans for the museum, to be called the American Museum of Islamic Arts, will be announced during a launch today of a new Islamic community center inside a former bank building at 240 N. Howard St. Mayor Martin O'Malley is expected to be on hand for the 1:45 p.m. ceremony.

Trips Take a jaunt to Stevensville and see how a guitar comes to life at the Paul Reed Smith Guitars factory. page 24 Music The band Sonia Dada -- named after a childhood friend of songwriter Dan Pritzker's wife -- delivers its sixth album; it's full of mostly inspired performances. page 21 Stage The Maryland Conservatory of Music offers a celebration of Count Basie's 100th birthday in an event Saturday. page 12 PICK OF THE WEEK What: A community open house for the new Harry and Jeanette Weinberg YMCA at Stadium Place, with activities including rock climbing, volleyball, relay activities, ballet, face painting, a moon bounce and more.

The threat of terrorism inspired by Islamic fundamentalism has focused Americans' minds as never before on the politics and philosophy underlying the youngest of the world's three great religions. Yet for centuries Islamic civilization was one of the great stabilizing forces of the world, and its culture produced a flowering of magnificent and enduring artworks. Now that achievement can be seen in Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Victoria and Albert Museum, a stunning exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

NEW YORK - The Islamic galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which hold one of the most comprehensive displays of Islamic material in the world, will close on Monday for four years for expansion and renovation. The closing coincides with the long-planned creation of new galleries for Roman and Etruscan art directly below on the first floor. Fearing that vibrations caused by construction would damage Islamic ceramics, glass and ivories, conservators advised that the galleries be vacated.

WHAT GOOD is art, what is its role during a national tragedy? That was the kind of question my students asked me after the terrorist attack. I tried to answer honestly. Art is no substitute for doctors or firefighters, but art can and always has played an important role in both understanding and helping to heal human tragedy throughout history. Art is a way to communicate feelings that words won't or can't shape or describe. It's an alternate path our senses can take to understand and process the unthinkable.

Julie Oeming Badiee, a former professor of art at Western Maryland College, died Sunday of a cancerous brain tumor at her Westminster home. She was 54. Dr. Badiee joined the Western Maryland faculty in 1978 and served as chairwoman of the Department of Art and Art History from 1984 to 1992. She retired last year because of her illness. "She was such a magnificent teacher. She turned on students to art history and taught them to open their eyes, look, question and explore," said Sue Bloom, who succeeded her as department head.

NEW YORK - The Islamic galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which hold one of the most comprehensive displays of Islamic material in the world, will close on Monday for four years for expansion and renovation. The closing coincides with the long-planned creation of new galleries for Roman and Etruscan art directly below on the first floor. Fearing that vibrations caused by construction would damage Islamic ceramics, glass and ivories, conservators advised that the galleries be vacated.

Toba Rochberg pointed to a flowered ceramic bowl made in Iraq centuries ago, one of more than 100 items covering more than 1,000 years of Islamic art on display at the Walters Art Gallery."

Galerie Francoise presents its annual summer show of artists that it represents. The show presents 54 pieces by more than 20 artists, most of whom live and work in Baltimore. Featured is an artist new to the gallery, Allan Baillie, whose botanical photographs have been shown in New York in recent years. Baillie's toned gelatin silver prints of sunflowers, calla lilies, leaves and ferns recall the classic images of Imogen Cunningham and Edward Weston with a contemporary twist. Baillie, a graduate of the Maryland Institute, College of Art, is a Baltimore native currently living in New York City.

Marianna Shreve Simpson, a scholar of Islamic and Near Eastern Art in Washington, has been named the new assistant director for curatorial affairs at the Walters Art Gallery.Currently curator of Islamic Near Eastern Art at the Freer and Sackler galleries of the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Simpson will begin her new job in March. She succeeds Gary Vikan, who became director of the museum.In addition, Dr. Simpson will serve the Walters in the newly created post of Curator of Islamic Art.A specialist in the medieval Islamic arts of the book, particularly Persian illustrated manuscripts, the 44-year-old scholar has published widely in her field.